mbia

Share in financial services company MBIA are up more than 10% in pre-market trading after Fairholme Capital Management, the investment firm headed by Bruce Berkowitz, disclosed that it had purchased an 11.1% stake in MBIA, the world's largest bond insurer.

MBIA has sued Merrill Lynch because the CDOs on which Merrill bought insurance from MBIA were AAA-rated junk. MBIA says Merrill knew the CDOs didn't deserve the top rating at the time it insured them. If this case succeeds, big banks may find dud ratings very expensive.

Citigroup Inc. (C) said Monday it is repaying $20 billion in bailout money of the $45 billion it received from the Treasury Department. Citi doesn't need to pay the remaining $25 billion, as the government has converted it into a 34% stake in the bank. Paying back the TARP money would help Citi at...

A group of 18 large banks, including JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Morgan Stanley (MS) and UBS (UBS) among others, is suing MBIA (MBI). The suit, filed in New York, claims the bond insurer illegally split its business, leaving one unit effectively insolvent. Why do the banks care...